City Women Dominate VIIIs events...

City in the 50's

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Published on Wednesday, 03 April 2013 22:08

Many thanks to Peter Jennings for writing this...

In 1949 Cambridge Town Rowing Club I, as CCRC was then, won their oars bumping four crews who no longer exist ( Beehives I, New Museums I, Scouts I and Pye I ) gaining them third place behind '99 I and Rob Roy I. 1950 was a year of change, not only in the name of the club as Cambridge became a City. The crew lost several older members who retired and it rowed over on all four nights.

The 1951 crew had only two members left from 1949, the cox John Fuller and Peter Jennings who rowed at seven. This crew won the Time Race and was the first CCRC crew to compete at Henley Royal Regatta beating Reading University in the first round of the Thames Cup by three-quarters of a length in 7 minutes 28 seconds. Expectation for the Bumps was high and the crew lived up to this expectation by bumping Rob Roy I and '99 I on the first two nights, rowing over Head on the second two. The crew was Jaques, Harvey, Court, Ward, Moy, Thulborn, Jennings, Messias and Fuller. This period of success and beyond was achieved under the Club Captaincy of Dennis Baker, who was foremost in developing crews to row outside the confines of the River Cam and CRA bumping races and was encouraged to do so by Dr D G Simpson, the Club President. Not insignificant in this success was that we enjoyed the coaching of David Jennens, the then CUBC Stroke who “finished-off” the crew in '49,'50 and '51. In 1952 CCRC I rowed over Head. Four of this crew rowed at Henley beating RAF Benson in the first round of the Wyfold Cup.

In the post WW2 period all town crews on the Cam rowed in clinker built boats and thus performance at The Thames Head was judged against other clinker crews. The first sortie to the Tideway was in 1949. The best overall placings during that period were in the low 20s, but results were always among the better clinker crews. In 1952 the crew won the Clinker Division Pennant.